What can these records tell me?

Each result will provide a transcript and image of the original burial register from the Archdiocese of Chicago. Records currently included in this collection span from the late 1800s up to 1925.

First name

Last name

Age

Birth year

Death year

Death date

Burial year

Burial date

Parish

City location

City

County

State

Make sure to check the image relating to the transcript as the image may provide additional details concerning your ancestor. Additional details you may find are cemetery location, cause of death, residence, place of birth, father’s name, mother’s name, and the name of the priest who conducted the service.

The Archdiocese of Chicago was first established as a diocese in 1843 and later as an archdiocese in 1880. The archdiocese serves the Catholic population of Cook and Lake Counties in northeastern Illinois and consists of 6 vicariates and 31 deaneries.

During the nineteenth century, Chicago was one of the fastest growing cities in the world, the population increasing twentyfold between 1860 and 1910 to make it the fifth largest city in the world. Chicago was a veritable boomtown, with its population swelling with emigrants from Europe; Czech and Polish emigrants represented a large proportion of this growing population. Many Polish emigrants were devout Catholics, and so Polish Catholic churches were built all over the city. These churches included the Good Shepherd, which was built in 1907 after one hundred local Polish families raised funds for its construction, and also SS Cyril & Methodius, a historic church which was founded as a Polish parish in 1884. You can view the records of the Good Shepherd and SS Cyril & Methodius in this collection.